Accidents and Accident Reporting

Define an AccidentAn accident is an unplanned or unwanted

event that results in a loss of some sort. Such losses could include:

PropertyDamage to machineryInjury Loss of life

Principles of Accident ReportingIn order for accidents to be reported there

must be a procedure in place. Every engineering organization must have an accident reporting procedure by law. Employers must keep records of all:

AccidentsIncidents Emergencies

IncidentsAn incident is an event that is unexpected or

unusual within the workplace. It many lead to damage or injury but not always. Here are some types of incident:

Near misses (where accidents nearly happen)Dangerous occurrences, for example spillage

of a toxic liquidPersonal incidents, such as assault

RIDDOR (1995)Reporting ofInjuriesDiseases andDangerousOccurrencesRegulations

The reporting and recording of accidents and incidents is a legal obligation under RIDDOR

EmployersEmployers must report certain types of

injuries, dangerous occurrences and gas releases. These reports are used by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to analyse health and safety trends and to compile statistics on the numbers of different types of accident which have occurred.

You can find details of such occurrences on the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/

Responsible PersonsIn law, each organization must name a person

who has overall responsibility for Health and Safety matters. The organization will also have other persons who have responsibility for different sections of the organization.

The responsible person must inform the HSE either by telephone or online as soon as an accident or incident occurs

Prevention is the Best CureThe primary benefit of accident reporting is

to help prevent similar accidents in the future. When an accident is reported and investigation is carried out to find the factors which contributed to the accident.

Once the contributing factors have been assessed and action plan can be drawn up to prevent it happening again. In this sense accident report and risk assessment work hand in hand to make the workplace safer

Competent PersonsA competent person is someone who has been

trained or is qualified to carry out an activity. When you are in the engineering workplace you are always relying on the training and competence of your workmates.

If everybody takes Health and Safety seriously then there is a good chance you will go through your working life with little chance of an accident

Conversely, it only takes one person who flouts the rules to make the engineering workplace unsafe

Accident and Incident CostsAccidents cost time and money. So in fact

does the prevention of accidents.

Whilst it is relatively easy to calculate the cost of preventative measures. The cost of an actual accident is virtually impossible to calculate. Can you think of any reasons why this should be?

Direct and Indirect CostsAn accident will incur two types of cost:

Indirect (Production delays)Direct (Clearing the site of any damage)

I have given one example of each type of cost. There are several others you could use in your assignment.

Accident CostsThere are many different cost calculators

available to help calculate the financial cost of an accident. Such calculators could be useful when carrying out assignments and tasks in Health and Safety

Google either ‘HSE ready reckoner’ or HSE cost calculator’ for examples of ways in which accident costs are assessed.